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Boston Beach

Boston Beach in the Boston District of Fairy Hill Portland, Jamaica is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. It is small, as is the bay that it rests in but that makes the bay like a very large swimming pool. On big surf days there are channels that can you take out quickly on the sides, but swimming towards the center and then back in, is always easy.

It is the beach where surf in Jamaica started. People have been surfing Boston Beach since the 1960's. Besides, Bull Bay, now the home of the Jamaica Surf Association, Boston is the islands source for developing top surfers. A number of young men start surfing pre-teen. There are surf instructors at the beach who for a reasonable fee will have you up in a wave in your first hour. Boston is unquestionably the best beach in Jamaica for learning to surf.

Surf aside, the white sand, lush tropical trees and plants that line the cliffs, and literally pour over their sides, make it an extraordinary place to visit. In the golden sunlight that is common even in rainy portland, and when the water is that stunning aqua/turquoise blue, the panoply of color and imagery is truly breathtaking. Even the browns of the volcanic rock of the cliffs can take your breath away. I grew up in California, too, so I am used to beautiful beaches from San Diego right up through San Francisco. Even the treelined cliffs to the beach in California, or Oregon, don't take your breath away as deeply.

Trevor, the great grandson, and great grand nephew, of two the creators of the commercial jerk business, has a jerk pit right at the beach. He tends to be only open weekends and holidays though. However, you can get made to order real home style Jamaican cooking from the restaurant on the beach that is run by his sister, Miss Ivy. It is unquestionably one of the best locals restaurants I've ever eaten at in Jamaica in my life. Her cooking really reminds me of my mother's though, so I am biased.

If you're coming to Jamaica, and don't visit Portland, you haven't really seen Jamaica at all. Even Jamaican's acknowledge Portland as the most beautiful parish on the island. Not only is it home to some of the most beautiful, if small beaches on the island, it also is home to the Blue Moutain peak, and it is the parish that feels the closest to the old Jamaica. The Jamaica which had a reputation even whenn your grandparents were young.

It is where tourism to Jamaica, and really the whole carribean started. It was also the most visited part of the island, until the cruise ships were moved first to Ocho Rios and now to Trelawny. Now, it is one of the best kept open secrets for travellers looking for more than a stay in an all inclusive resort. It is no accident that it is home to some of the finest villas and boutique hotels on the island. Or, that it is home to San San, a community of villas originally started by the very wealthy for their tropical home, from as early as the 1960's.

You don't have to spend an arm and a leg to stay out by Boston Beach either. You can spend the money for some of the hotels and villas in the area, but you're adventurous, and ask some of the locals about accomodations near the beach, you can find accomodations that are closer to motel rates, and simply
walk to the beach. I haven't seen it yet myself, but I am told there is a hostel in Fair Hill for the real budget travellers as well.

If you visit Jamaica, you really should make the effort to make it to Boston Beach. You won't regret it. If it's a beautiful day, more likely than not, you will thank for me suggesting it, if you follow my recommendation. If you don't, "No Problem!," but I hope my photos above give you a good idea of what
you are missing. It so much more breathtakig live. Seen!